The 4th Annual Race Industry Week produced by Epartrade, RACER and SPEED SPORT climbed to a new level this year with more than 100 race industry leaders from virtually every form of racing participating.
Held November 27–December 1, featured five days of live webinars featuring race industry leaders, sanctioning bodies, racing series, OEMS, promoters and more.
“We had five amazing days with an incredible list of speakers,” said Francisque Savinien, who along with Judy Kean are the producers of Race Industry Week and founders of Epartrade, the digital sourcing platform for the worldwide racing industry. “If you work in the race industry you needed to be watching. It was wonderful to talk to and learn from all of these industry leaders.
“Truthfully, I don’t think anyone has assembled a line-up of speakers of this quality in the history of racing and it emphasizes the formidable support that Epartrade commands within the industry.”
Featured speakers included:
• Chip Ganassi, owner of Chip Ganassi Racing
• Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports
• Adrian Newey OBE, chief technical officer of Red Bull Racing
• Tony Stewart, owner of Tony Stewart Racing
• Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
• Steve Phelps, president of NASCAR
• Mark Miles, president & CEO of Penske Entertainment
• Mike Burch, chief operating officer of Speedway Motorsports
• Brad Sweet, sprint car champion and owner of High Limit Racing;
• Richard Petty, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion
“We all have a deep love of the industry and the people who work in it.” said Paul Pfanner, founder of RACER Media & Marketing. “This week was our love letter to everyone who makes the sport happen. Your hard work has built a vibrant, dynamic sport that is accelerating in a way we’ve never seen before. In the winter of 2020, things were stopped and barely coming back and look at the sport now. Racers learn faster than the competition. Evolving and adapting.
“The audience is expanding for our sport. We have a wealth of opportunities to grow this sport in the years ahead. It’s been great to see the entire industry showing so much energy and positivity as we roll into 2024.”
Almost 40 sanctioning bodies and racing series spanning six continents were represented from two wheels to four wheels, to tractors to power boats throughout the week’s webinars.
“This week we talked to leaders across the motorsports spectrum — from Formula 1 to truck and tractor pulling, and from iconic legends of the sport to the next generation of innovators and athletes.” relayed Joe Tripp, Managing Partner and CEO of SPEED SPORT. “What’s really exciting is that the industry is enjoying phenomenal growth — but as we know, it has to continually reinvent itself, and that theme was consistent throughout each information-packed day this week.
“Our company is no different — and even though we’ll celebrate our 90th anniversary next year, we still need to keep adapting to change, and a critical element of that is supporting and participating in things like Race Industry Week.”
A Look Back
Manufacturers, teams, track promoters, drivers and engine builders also played prominent roles. Featured OEM leaders included Ford’s Mark Rushbrook, General Motors’ Jim Campbell, TRD’s David Wilson and Mazda Motorsports’ Jonathan Apple, who assessed their seasons, went behind the scenes of their programs, and also looked to what lies ahead in the future.
The week also offered six special panel discussions that covered a variety of topics that address a variety of topics in the industry with the “The Emerging Indian & Asian Racing Markets”; “How to support racing drivers on the developments ladder. Helping future stars today”; “Diversity is good for business – The ‘why’ and best practices for your business”; “Sustainable Growth and Innovation Through Design and Racing”; “NHRA Crew Chiefs”; and “Honoring Dave Darland” panels.
“Epartrade is a racing trade-only platform where buyers can connect to suppliers all year round,” said Kean. “In addition, we also host weekly technical webinars and the cherry on top is this special, spectacular week with this gathering we’ve created for the industry. It was dynamic. We’re so grateful to and proud of all of our iconic presenting sponsors so thank you to them.
“This week was developed out of the pandemic when there were no trade shows, so we decided to create one and now we’re in our fourth annual Race Industry Week and people are calling it a tradition already. It’s heartwarming.”
This year’s five-day event featured expanded content distribution via Zoom, the Epartrade, RACER and SPEED SPORT YouTube channels, as well as the online websites Racer.com and SPEEDSPORT.com and on television with SPEED SPORT 1, with all of the content available this week on the Epartrade platform.
Race Industry Week was presented by ETS Racing Fuels, Fifth Third Bank Motorsports, PEAK, Penske Racing Shocks, Scott Lewis Associates and Total Seal Piston Rings, and sponsored by ARP – Auto Racing Products, Performance Plus Global Logistics and Shop Monkey.
Webinars were hosted by Jeff Hammond and Brad Gillie of SiriusXM, Ch. 90; Paul Pfanner of RACER, Ralph Sheheen, Mike Kerchner and Jim Roller of SPEED SPORT; Marshall Pruett, David Malsher-Lopez, Richard James, George Tamayo, Laurence Foster, and Chris Medland of RACER; Joe Castello of WFO Radio; Judy Kean and Francisque Savinien of Epartrade.
The fifth annual Race Industry Week is scheduled to take place December 2-6, 2024.